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In the Presence of God

"The Two Declarations in Two Places:
Before God’s Name and being Before God

This Deuteronomic perspective helps clarify the problem of where the worshipper stands when offering each declaration. The first declaration is recited at the location where the Name dwells, and that is the functional equivalent of declaring it “before YHWH your God.”

This line is reminiscent of Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8:27—God is in heaven, not on earth. What is on earth is God’s name, something that represents God without actually being God. And thus this second declaration, as noted by Tigay, is heard by God no matter where it is recited."

Immanence and Transcendence

"Half a century ago, Nikita Khrushchev—then the ruler of the Soviet Union—loudly proclaimed that the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, had flown into outer space and not seen any God. Did the Deuteronomist really think that God was somewhere “up there”?

We might never know the answer to this question for certain. But from our 21st-century perspective, it is quite easy to understand the difference between Deuteronomy’s shem (“name”) perspective and the kavod (“Presence”) perspective of the Priestly writings. From the Priestly perspective, God is immanent—immediately present amid our own world of ordinary matter, and housed in the Tabernacle/Temple. From the Deuteronomic perspective, God is transcendent—a being that connects with our world, and with us, from a realm beyond time and space.

Deuteronomy calls this realm שמים (shamayim, “sky/heaven”), because that realm was unreachable for us human beings. No doubt it seemed then that it would always be so. By contrast, ארץ (eretz, “earth”) was our realm of dust and mud, a world in which it must have seemed that God could not be at home. For the Deuteronomist, God was not part of our material world, but was aware of it—and controlled it—from some realm beyond it."

I believe the holy spirit is the part of God that is everywere,thus God is Omnipresent. The holy spirit,Logos,word, proceeds out of the Godhead(Father in Heaven) to touch every atom in the physical universe. I believe that the highest heaven is a spiritual place that the soul can ascend to, but physical matter and the body of man can not go too. thus no one has seen God and lived. At least not his absolute highest nature. i believe the eyes of soul, not the physical eyes may see the light of God.

I believe the holy spirit is the part of God that is everywere,thus God is Omnipresent. The holy spirit,Logos,word, proceeds out of the Godhead(Father in Heaven) to touch every atom in the physical universe. I believe that the highest heaven is a spiritual place that the soul can ascend to, but physical matter and the body of man can not go too. thus no one has seen God and lived. At least not his absolute highest nature. i believe the eyes of soul, not the physical eyes may see the light of God.

...and so the word of the Psalms comes into mind, "6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.…Psalms 139